One for the Kids
I was your age
When I decided
I’d had enough
I was tired
So, I turned off
The television
Ate a bottle of Valium
And waited
I was so tired
And when I woke up
I was in the ICU
With an endotracheal tube
Shoved down my throat
A Foley catheter
Inserted into my bladder
And an immense
Feeling of gratitude
That I had not
Been conscious
For any of it
And an even greater
Feeling of sadness
That I was still alive
And that my mother
Would have to explain
To her physician
Why she needed
An early refill
David Burdett
5/17/2024
Motel Hell
The three of us
In that seedy motel
The air reeking
Of roach poison
Cigarette smoke
Methamphetamine
And bleach
From the jacuzzi
To the kitchenette
I am in Hell
I remember
Thinking
As I wracked
My brain
For a polite way
To excuse myself
From the madness
Of my psychotic
Companions
And their
One-way
Expedition
To the outer limits
Of nowhere
David Burdett
1/10/2022
Foursquare Nightmare
As a kid
I lived next door
To a Pentecostal
Foursquare church
My grandmother taught
Sunday school there
Which meant
I was required to attend
Maybe there is a God?
Because in between
The convulsing
On the floor
Speaking
In tongues
And rampant
Pedophilia
It’s a miracle
That I didn’t
Turn out
More fucked-up
Than I am
David Burdett
5/16/2024
Aloha from Nowhere
I can remember
The most terrible things
Detail for detail
A ballpoint drawing
Of Lucifer
On the back of
An expired TV guide
Is still etched
On my mind:
Aloha from Hawaii!
Elvis has left the building
And though
I don’t think
I’ll ever truly know
Whether the king
Died on the toilet
Or not
I do know
That it was around
The same time
That my life
Went down
The shitter
David Burdett
5/16/2024